Impressing Clients in a First Meeting: What to Do Before, During, and After

Client first impressions are critical. Digital engagement counts in a matter of seconds or minutes—whether live web chat, text, or artificial intelligence (AI) chat bots. Clients expect timely responses to their questions, concerns, and requests for support, and we’re talking in a matter of seconds or at most a few minutes.

When businesses fail to meet these expectations, clients often broadcast their displeasure and experiences when interacting with family and friends and over their social channels. This can quickly impact brand awareness, which can have a detrimental impact on a business’ ability to attract new clients. Considering 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchase decisions, digital engagement and the time it takes to respond to their questions and calls for assistance matter dramatically.

Preparing for a First Meeting with a Client

The same applies when it comes to in-person engagement. A new study reveals that first impressions for in-person encounters happens in 27 seconds. But what too many small businesses and solopreneurs forget is what happens before the meeting takes place. A separate study finds nearly 70% of people form a first impression of someone before even speaking with them. The communications and preparation for that first meeting is just as important as the meeting itself. When those fail, the likelihood of the meeting turning out well is dramatically diminished.

Before the Meeting Impressions

So, what should you do before the meeting to ensure you make first—or prior—impressions count?

1. Determine the client profile

Not every client is the same, and they are bound to approach the initial meeting with you differently depending on their goals and objectives. Let’s look at four client profiles:

• Searchers seek information and often do not have an intent to purchase. In many instances, they can burn a lot of time but with little or no returns for the expenditure. Businesses need to sniff these out early in the process and determine their level of engagement.
• Researchers have been charged to vet different solutions and report back to management on which ones pass the cut. They have a square peg and are looking to determine if you are a fit. Assuming there is a fit, the researcher needs to socialize you as possible solution to their management team. Here, you should equip them with the right information needed to make that process successful. And when there isn’t a fit, you should move on.
• Budgeteers are driven by cost and view your services or products as a commodity. Perhaps their organization is simply run on cost principles rather than value or they have overpaid for something in the past and cost is a pivotal decision-making factor for them now. Gaining an understanding of their budget expectations and how they have managed recent vendor engagements will give you a good idea as to whether you want to move forward with them.
• Problem solvers are looking for a solution that adds value and looking for products and services that are unique and compliment their capabilities. This is the ideal client profile, and you should be generous with your time and resources—within reason of course.

2. Identify the right participants

Determining who should attend the meeting from your company is important. Having too many representatives in the meeting is a productivity drain and could even overwhelm the client. But having the right representatives is just important and depends on what the client wants to accomplish.

3. Research the client

Understanding the client and their market and competitors is a requisite. Not only does this information help you structure an agenda that meets goals and objectives while making a great impression on the client. Additionally, this information can help ensure you don’t step into any potholes.

4. Create and communicate the agenda

The meeting agenda needs to be determined based on what the client wants to accomplish. You should discuss meeting objectives and goals with the client beforehand, craft an agenda, and send it out with a request for input. This will help you vet the client’s profile (see above) and ensure the actual meeting goes well. It also gives participants an understanding of their role and what is expected of them.

5. Finding and selecting the right meeting room

Selecting the wrong meeting room can set the client first meeting up for failure. For small businesses and solopreneurs without permanent offices, this means you must identify and vet a rented conference room. For those with a permanent office space, the location may not be the right venue for client meeting. Your office may not be in the best location, and it may lack the accouterments needed for a successful meeting.

So, what are your options? Coffee shops are a terrible idea, lacking privacy and presenting disruptions. And if you need reliable, high-speed internet access, video conferencing, and presentation tools, you won’t find any at the coffee shop. For those thinking about looking for a room at a local hotel, you should get your wallet out—they typically cost 50% more than rented meeting rooms.

Rented meeting rooms such as Davinci Meeting Rooms are a better option. Small businesses can find those in a location that works best for their client, vet each room through 3D videos and photos, and review the list of business services that accompany them—from lobby greeters, to food and beverage catering, to presentation tools.

6. Selecting catering services

Even if no lunch or dinner is planned as part of the meeting, catering services for beverages and snacks are a great touch and certainly will make a great first impression. You need to look for a rented conference room provider that includes catering as an option.

During the Meeting

Just as you can do certain things before the meeting, you can do some things during the meeting to make it a success:

1. Be confident

83% of people feel more confident about those who are confident. Those who are uncertain and unable to answer questions clients pose put themselves in a negative light. Arrogance, inappropriate dress, and bad manners are certain to do the same.

2. Ask open-ended questions

The best high-value questions are open-ended. These prompt high-value conversations because they require more than one-word answers. These questions normally begin with “why,” “how,” and “what if.”

3. Watch your body language

Body language speaks volume. The wrong posture, angling, and eye contact can have unintended consequences. Body language you may want to avoid displaying at a meeting includes: a) crossing your arms makes you look resistant to change or closed off, b) slouching makes it appear as if you don’t care or have nothing to offer, c) texting or emailing on your phone is disrespectful, d) losing eye contact with your clients makes you appear disinterested, and e) not speaking early enough in the meeting can make participants (you and anyone else from your team) appear disinterested.

4. Reserve time for final takeaways and actions

As with any successful meeting, there needs to be time for a summation of the conversation and delineation of final takeaways and next steps. Rushing through these and failing to get agreement from the client may fail in actionable agreement that results in additional engagement and ultimately revenue.

After the Meeting

Sending a follow-up email thanking the client for their time is no-brainer. But it needs to include more than a thank you. You must summarize the key takeaways and actions that were discussed at the close of the meeting. This helps ensure the client and you are on the same page and that next steps are taken.

About Patrick Spencer

Patrick Spencer (Ph.D.) is the President and Founder of TIRO Communications that helps companies develop, build, and manage content, customer, advocacy, and demand-gen programs. Included in its offerings is TIRO Cognition Insights, a data analytics tool that enables B2C and B2B businesses to pinpoint what their customers and competitors’ customers are saying and to identify corresponding actionable product, services, competitive, sales, and marketing intelligence. LinkedIn Profile: LinkedIn Website: www.tirocommunications.com